Even though Liu Xia is under house arrest, she is finding ways to make her voice heard.

Ms Liu is married to Nobel Peace Prize winner and political dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence. Even though she has never been charged with a crime, Ms Liu is also serving a concurrent sentence of sorts: she has been forcibly confined to her small Beijing apartment for the past three years.

A new video, smuggled out of Ms Liu's Beijing apartment, shows her sitting at a small desk, surrounded by books. After reading two of her own poems, Ms Liu triumphantly signals to the camera and smiles.

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That smile is likely a rare expression of happiness. Ms Liu's friends report she is severely depressed, following years of involuntary isolation. In December, a close friend relayed Liu Xia's urgent requests to see an independent doctor, read her husband's letters and be allowed to earn money by selling her art works.

"Whenever Liu Xia goes out, her schedule is set by the police," explains Ms Liu's friend, Bei Ling. Mr Bei is president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, a branch of PEN International, the global writers' association organising the New York event.

"She has no freedom to choose which doctor she can see, and she has no access to internet or phone. She is seriously depressed with coronary heart disease. Now there are worries that she has been refusing to eat, and started to smoke heavily and drink lots of coffee, tea or even liquor. She even has lost interest in writing letters to her husband, because we know that her letters will only go to the police and the government."